DHEC Launches COVID-19 Pledge Project for South Carolina’s Business Community
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Today, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is launching a new pledge project to further engage the Palmetto State’s business community in the fight against COVID-19.
The project, which appears as a new feature on DHEC’s “Stay SC Strong” website, encourages business leaders to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace by following four major workplace safety practices that can lower the risk of infection for employees, customers, and clients, and other important stakeholders.
“We’re proud of the efforts South Carolina businesses and the Department of Commerce have put forth as we work together to fight COVID-19,” said Dr. Joan Duwve, DHEC Public Health Director. “South Carolina’s business community continues to play an important role in protecting their workforce as well as the public who rely on the services and goods they provide. We hope this new campaign empowers businesses to be united as leaders in the community to keep South Carolinians safe and the state safely opens for business.”
When business leaders sign the “Stay SC Strong” pledge, they will immediately receive a social media graphic announcing their commitment to fight COVID-19, as well as a printable poster reiterating the four major workplace safety measures prescribed by DHEC. These valuable campaign assets will boost awareness of core safety principles and extend “Stay SC Strong” messaging across social networks in the business community.
The newly updated “Stay SC Strong” campaign website will also feature an array of resources designed to help business leaders share information about COVID-19 with others—resources that include social media graphics, email templates, downloadable postcards, downloadable workplace posters, and more.
Visit business.stayscstrong.com to explore the business leader pledge and sign it today.
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NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS
These lockdowns and widespread mask requirements MUST stop! Understand that I am not a layman when it comes to the science of disease transmission. I have a degree in Biological Sciences with graduate level work in transmission electron microscopy — the only way to “see” a virus. I am a former Environmental Health Specialist and public health inspector. I worked for years in the pharmaceutical industry overseeing quality assurance of antibacterial and parenteral (sterile) preparations. I am also making this statement from the standpoint one who is at “extreme risk” from the COVID virus. I am over 65, with compromised lungs. But NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS would I have wanted the government to require thousands of businesses to be locked down for MONTHS to ‘protect me’. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS would I have demanded that everyone else wear a mask, or stay at least 6 feet away in order to protect me. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS would I have wanted schools to close, or young people be unable to attend their graduations, or people to be unable to have wedding celebrations or attend the funerals of their loved ones. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS would I have wanted governments to actually CLOSE public parks and beaches to keep me safe. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS WOULD I HAVE WANTED GOVERNMENT TO DESTROY OUR ECONOMY AND PUT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE OUT OF WORK to try to protect me. I am a free American, and IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT ME. IT IS MY JOB TO PROTECT MYSELF. Anyone who is afraid of this virus (which currently has a 99%+ recovery rate based on the latest, most accurate CDC numbers) can take common sense precautions. You can wear a mask if you choose. You can opt to wear disposable gloves, not because they protect you any better than proper handwashing, but because they remind you to NOT touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. You can make sure to wash your hands whenever you are someplace where you have touched something that could have been contaminated with the virus. WE CAN PROTECT OURSELVES IF WE ARE CONCERNED. We do NOT have the right to demand that the rest of the world shut down or wear a stifling face mask to protect us on the <1% CHANCE that getting this virus will kill us. The CDC just released the true numbers. Out of over six million cases in the U.S., less than 10,000 deaths were attributed soley to COVID. That brings the actual death rate to .17 %. NOTE: That is considerably less than ONE PERCENT! ALL other deaths were people who had serious, often terminal, underlying medical conditions, and who would also be more likely to die from the common flu, which, incidentally has an average death rate of ~1.6%, over NINE TIMES greater than that of COVID with the newly published CDC numbers. What the state and local governments have done to this country in the name of protecting the vulnerable is CRIMINAL, and we who are the most vulnerable DO NOT WANT THIS! WE NEVER ASKED FOR THIS! The alarming number of people who are dying from the lockdowns are much higher than those who are dying from the virus. Will non-vulnerable people die from this virus? Yes, exactly as with the flu and other viral and bacterial diseases, it is true that some who inexplicably die will be young and in good health otherwise. However, the numbers are clear: the majority of those who die will be people like me: older, with underlying serious health conditions. Understand that I would rather die from this virus than see what the “nanny state” has done to this country while trying to protect me. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! OPEN THE CHURCHES, THE RESTAURANTS, HAIR SALONS, GYMS, AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES! LET PEOPLE GO TO THE BEACHES! LET YOUNG PEOPLE ATTEND SCHOOL, AND SPORTS EVENTS, AND PARTIES! DROP THE MASK REQUIREMENT, AND LET PEOPLE DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES HOW TO HANDLE THE RISK! The logical action, the only fair action, is to let those of us who are concerned take the precautions! LIFE IS RISK. Getting into your car to drive out in traffic each morning is probably more of a risk than anything else you will ever do. It is time to go back to some semblance of normalcy and let people start living their lives again without well-meant but disastrous government intervention. Ronald Regan was right when he said, “The most frightening words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
– Judy Tatum